I admit becoming a parent made me more aware of what I loved and feared in education. I went through an intense stage of self awareness when my daughter entered kindergarten. Her excitement to learn was attributed to her teacher with 30+ years experience who was engaging, entertaining and organized. Transformation in my own teaching […]
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Posted inElementary School, Featured, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
Substituting – The Not-Quite-Teaching of Teaching
One of the new adventures I’ve embarked upon since my layoff in 2011 is substitute teaching. Many unemployed teachers I’ve spoken to have been substituting for a very long time, sometimes half a decade or more, waiting to get back into a permanent position. Substituting can be one of the worst – or best – situations in which an […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion, Uncategorized
Inexcusable Sympathies
There was a time when standing up for public school teachers in the United States was not merely acceptable behavior, it was actually the cultural norm. We gave our teachers accolades in the public arena, hoping that our efforts at demonstrating our united esteem might somehow make up for the low pay we afforded them. […]
Posted inElementary School, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
The "No Excuses" Parent
By writing an article entitled “The Exhaustion of the American Teacher” recently, I unwittingly unleashed a torrent of competing emotions. With 81,000 Facebook “likes” and scores of supportive comments from teachers and their loved ones, the text and tenor of the piece found a receptive audience. At the same time, several of the comments—from both […]
Posted inElementary School, From the Front Lines
When Teachers Leave the Profession: Is It Time to Make a Change?
By: Lynette Walters Ok!! So you’re fed up! You just can’t take anymore! Your season has ended, you’re bored with the job or no longer feel challenged, the kids are too difficult, or you just need a change….Whatever the reason, whatever the rhyme, you’re ready to leave teaching and do something different. It’s time to […]
Posted inElementary School, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, School Improvement, Uncategorized
Contextual Accountability
Every school is a microcosm of the community it serves—that is, every school that serves any and all students in the neighborhood. Peaceful schools are nestled in peaceful environs. If there are drugs or violence in the streets, educators will contend with drugs and violence working their way into the school like crickets through unseen […]
Posted inElementary School
How Students Lose when Teachers Become the Enemy
Watch any recent education report and you will see a matter-of-fact statement about the cause of the problems in America’s schools—bad teachers. There was even a movie with the same name (it was funny). Furthering this notion of “bad teachers” are people like Michelle Rhee, and Bill Gates and you will think that every problem […]